Accio Love
by Snatching At Dreams
Summary: Planning a wedding is hard enough, but this is Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy's wedding! Will an old emnity ruin their perfect day? Will Astoria and Hermione go crazy with the wedding plans? Will Albus  the best man  be able to tame his hair?
1. Just a note

Hello everyone!

The idea for this story first arose when I asked a friend of mine to help me out with a fanfiction I was writing.. She wrote a chapter for me, and that inspired me to ask my friends if they would like to write a group fanfiction. What you will read in this story is not the work of one author, but 7.

Snatching At Dreams

Salamander Newt

Finding Your Voice

ginny-malfoy22

gabiellexx

OmangoOlemonadeO

SeraphinaLenobia

we spent hours on facebook discussing everything from the colour of Rose's hair to French girls names. All I can say is thank you to my AMAZING friends who put up with my crazy ideas and suggestions for chapters that hadn't been written yet.

'Hi, people reading this, this is a message from ginny-malfoy22 *tests microphone*. I'm not really sure what to say other than I love how we've all worked together on this, and I hope you guys enjoy it too!'

hey guys! it's gabiellexx!  
i was a bit hesitant at first to work on this, but when i was assigned a chapter (the third one, for all you reading out there) i had a brilliant idea and started writing straight away. working on this with these amazing writers has not only let me further my writing with collaborative exercises, but it has let me get to know some amazing people. i am extremely thankful for the opportunity that snatch has given me, and i really do hope you enjoy the story :)  
love, gabiellexx

Hi there, I'm OmangoOlemonadeO. It's my first time writing something not anime-related, haha. Hope you'll enjoy the story! :) And thank you, Snatch for this collaboration!


	2. Coffee Shop Sountrack

The bell on the coffee shop tinkled, and Rose looked up to see Scorpius Malfoy standing at the entrance, looking windswept. His long black cloak was speckled with snow, and the flecks in his hair gave the impression that he had a severe case of dandruff.

Rose watched as he hung up his cloak and brushed the snow of his head. He really was quite handsome, with his white blond hair, lean figure, and those eyes that shined like sapphires...

Rose mentally hit herself. When had she become so... romantic? This wasn't like her at all, she thought. But then again, it was hard not to be romantic when you had just seen the most amazing guy in the world, and that guy just happened to be your boyfriend.

Rose snapped out of her reverie just in time to see Scorpius sliding into the booth across the table from her.

'Sorry I'm a bit late.' He said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the small table. 'Mum was terrified I might catch a cold so she made me wear about 40 layers. I literally just escaped from her clutches.' He looked over at her. Maybe it was just her imagination, but he looked a little nervous. Or maybe it was just the cold. Rose smiled.

'Thats ok. My mum can be like that sometimes. She keeps on talking about pneumonia, or something like that. it must be a...' Rose stopped suddenly. Something underneath the table was touching her foot. She relaxed when she realised it was Scorpius's foot, engaging in his favourite game of footsy's. What was usually a childish game became quite beautiful. Rose and Scorpius's feet whirled around each other in a graceful dance.

Slowly Rose and Scorpius drew closer to the table. Their foots had stopped twirling. Gradually they moved closer to each other...

There was a small cough and Rose looked up to see a waitress standing next to the table. She looked torn between annoyance and amusement. Rose straightened up, aware that she was going red in the face.

As soon as the waitress had left with their orders, Rose felt something touch her foot; Scorpius had resumed their game of footsy.

**ok, so this is kinda short, but the chapters do get longer as the story progresses :)**

**please review!**


	3. Sweetest Thing

Sipping his Vienna coffee, Scorpius eyed his surroundings. There weren't many customers at the cafe; it was relatively quiet for an afternoon during the week. Normally, he would enjoy a nice, peaceful time in a coffee shop.

But not today.

He'd planned this for ages. He needed to do this.

His gaze landed back on the girl sitting across the table, who was busying herself with yet another spoonful of cream and chocolate brownie. She looked content. He really enjoyed spending time with her like this. It was during one of these times, when Rose would stall her usual seriousness and reveal the little girl in her that Scorpius loved the most. A soft smile found its way along his lips as he continued fixing his attention on the red-head.

However, his blatant loving stare did not last long. It took Rose about a minute to notice a pair of eyes following her every small movement. She paused in the middle of her chocolaty treat and looked up at Scorpius. 

'What's wrong?' she asked simply with a lift of her eyebrow, 'Is there cream on my face?'

'N-no,' he replied in surprise, not knowing his efforts of a lover's secret stare had failed, 'I, ah, was just thinking.'

She nodded, looking into his eyes with a smile. 'Do tell what's on your mind. I'd like to help.'

He was left speechless for a moment. He never thought about the chance of her asking him to tell her! He'd told himself he would take it slow and let it out as soon as he felt comfortable! Why on earth did her eyes have to look so inquisitive and curious?

Be brave, he told himself, you've practiced this in front of the mirror for God knows how many times. Surely you'll have no problem.

He reached for his jacket and fished something out from the left pocket. Rose's eyes had that one splinter of suspicion before returning to their original calm state. Slowly extending his free hand on the small table between them, he took her hand gently with a hopeful grin. She only looked even more confused. Yet before she could open her mouth to question the strange atmosphere and behavior of her boyfriend, he took the initiative and said words that didn't quite register in her mind.

'Rose, will you marry me?'


	4. From this Moment On

**i think if havent been doing disclaimers in this story, so id better do one now (oops)**

**i dont own ANYTHING in this story.  
**

Rose stared at him for a moment, thinking over every possible scenario for the exchange that had just occurred between them, and she repeatedly came up with the same solution: Scorpius Malfoy had just asked her to marry him.

"Are you okay, Rose?" Scorpius asked, wondering if he maybe shouldn't have asked after all.

"Yes," Rose replied, a little dazed. She scanned his beautiful face, and her eyes met his, and she smiled.

"Scorpius, of course I'll marry you!" she said, her loving smile transforming now into a delighted grin. She leaned across the table, preparing to thank him properly when they heard somebody scream.

Alarmed, the two of them whipped their heads to face the waitress who had taken their orders. Seeing that Rose had accepted Scorpius' proposal, she had screamed with delight and thrown her arms up into the air. The tray, along with the cups of coffee, had been thrown backwards into the air behind her, and fell with a tinkling of broken glass on the floor, leaving a puddle of boiling liquid with it.

The waitress appeared not to notice this. "Oh my goodness!" she screamed again, running up to the young couple and kneeling down beside the booth. "Congratulations, you two! Oh, this is amazing! A proposal in my cafe! Aww, how long have you been dating? When did you meet? How old were you? Oh, this is so exciting! Hold on, we need cake, and we need it now."

The waitress darted off, and the young couple, taking one look at each other, new exactly what they needed to do now. Though the offer of cake had been tempting, they decided to leave, so as to avoid answering the awkward questions the waitress had asked. So Scorpius, making sure he still had the ring, slid out of the booth and offered his hand to Rose, who took it.

As she stood up, she surreptitiously pulled out her wand and pointed it at the spilled coffee, whispering 'Evanesco' under her breath, which caused the mess to disappear. Then, satisfied, she linked arms with Scorpius and walked out of the coffee shop.

"Where to now?" she asked excitedly. They'd walked about half way down the street, well out of sight of the coffee shop when Scorpius stopped her and looked down at her face.

He tucked a strand of dark red hair behind her ear and pulled the ring out of his pocket. "You wear this," he said, sliding it onto the finger that she'd put out for him. Then the two kissed passionately. Scorpius, regrettingly, pulled away and grimaced.

"And now," he said. "Now we go talk to my parents."


	5. Us and Them Part I

Scorpius had been dreading this moment for awhile. Ever since he had decided to propose to Rose, the one thing going around his mind was not 'will Rose say yes?', because he had been sure she would, but 'What will my parents think?'

Yes, his parents had long accepted the fact that he was dating a Weasley, a Weasley who was the daughter of two of his father's enemies from school. They even quite liked Rose, but why wouldn't they? Rose was charming, polite, kind, and, of course, absolutely gorgeous. Her dark red hair had always captivated Scorpius.

But now was not the time to think of that.

Scorpius grabbed Rose's hand, and Disapparated. They appeared outside Malfoy Manor, and Scorpius looked up at the looming castle. The place he grew up in. He walked through the gate and up to the front door. As he reached it, a house-elf opened the door. Scorpius smiled at the house-elf as Rose sniffed slightly. Rose believed in her mother's ideals about house-elves. Scorpius had always found it quite funny.

They made their way up the cold stone staircase in silence, and walked down the stone hallway to the sitting room, where his father was reading a book, and his mother was staring into the fire. Astoria smile up at him as he entered the room, standing up and giving Scorpius and Rose each a hug.

"Hello, Mrs Malfoy," Rose said, hugging her back. Astoria rolled her eyes at her sons girlfriend. She had long asked Rose to call her Astoria, but Rose kept calling her Mrs Malfoy.

Draco stood up too, shaking Scorpius' hand and hugging Rose, kissing her on the cheek.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Draco asked after all the greetings had been made. Scorpius glanced at Rose, her hand still in his, and Rose squeezed his hand gently.

"Rose and I have some news," Scorpius said softly, "I just asked this amazing woman to marry me, and she said yes." Astoria screamed excitedly, pulling them both into a tight hug. Draco frowned slightly before smiling.

"Congratulations," he said, hugging after Astoria let go of the couple. Scorpius smiled at his father, wondering what he really thought. Though both Draco and Rose's father were both civil enough when they saw each other, which was fairly often, he knew there was still a bit of tension between the two.

After Draco hugged Rose as congratulations, he walked away, and Scorpius looked at his mother, who sighed.

"He's seen this coming for awhile," Astoria told her son, "But he hasn't quite come to terms that he and Ronald Weasley may share some grandchildren." Scorpius widened his eyes, shaking his head.

"We're not thinking about children quite yet," Rose said, noticing Scorpius' state of shock. Astoria laughed.

"I know, dear, but it will happen eventually. Your father is happy for you, Scorpius. It's just hard for him to let go completely of his school enmity," Astoria assured them. Scorpius nodded. His father did like Rose, Draco had told Scorpius that he couldn't imagine anyone better for him, but that didn't mean it would be easy for him to accept that his daughter-in-law would be Ron Weasley's daughter.

Well, it would make for an interesting wedding later.


	6. Us and Them Part II

"Well," Rose said as the two of them departed from Malfoy Manor. "That went well."  
"Better than we'd hoped," Scorpius agree. "What's our next move?"  
"Well, next we have to tell my parents," Rose said, creasing her eyebrows together. "Shall we?" she asked her fiancé, holding out her arm.  
"We shall," Scorpius nodded, grasping her arm and turning with her in a perfect circle.  
One loud CRACK later and the two of them appeared outside the home of Ron and Hermione Weasley. Gulping, they glanced at each other before taking the ten metre walk, which now seemed like a mile, up to the front door.  
If Draco Malfoy had been harbouring a grudge for the past 30 years, then Ronald Weasley had been harbouring much worse. And now, the prospect of telling the news to Ron especially was much more nerve-wracking than telling Draco Malfoy had been.  
Tentatively, Rose knocked on the door three times and swallowed, hard. Hermione answered, and she took one look at them with their arms still linked, and led them inside.  
'Ron, darling," Hermione said, sitting down beside him on the couch and turning the wireless off. "Rose and Scorpius need to have a word with us."  
"But, the Cannons!" Ron protested.  
"We'll find out the score from Albus later," Rose said.  
"Fine," Ron sighed, "What do you want to talk about?"  
Hermione smiled, satisfied, and turned to face her daughter.  
"Well, Scorpius and I were talking this morning," she beamed, "and we've decided to get engaged. Now, I know you probably aren't the biggest fan of the idea, and I understand that, but we really love each other, and we just need you to be happy for us."  
Ron took one look at the two of them, got up from the sofa, and walked into the kitchen.  
Scorpius smiled encouragingly at Rose and she leaned on him. Though she'd expected a reaction such as this, it still upset her. Hermione, upset, looked between them, smiled feebly, and followed her husband into the kitchen.  
"Muffliato," she muttered at the door so that Rose and Scorpius wouldn't hear what was about to go on. "Ronald Bilius Weasley, what in the name of Merlin was that about?" she asked furiously. "Your daughter just announced her engagement, and you come into the kitchen to _sulk_!"  
She glanced down at what he was doing - dishes, by hand - and sighed.  
"She has to marry him, doesn't she?" Ron asked, and though his face was calm, his voice exuded anger. "The son of our arch enemy?"  
"Voldemort is our arch enemy, and he's dead, remember? And Malfoy did end up on our side, after the war."  
"Doesn't change all the things he did to us. You remember what he called you, don't you? Why are you sticking up for him?"  
"Ron, the war was more than 25 years ago! I believe people can change, Ron, and I believe he changed. Be as unhappy about Rose getting married to Scorpius as you like, but please, I am begging you; just be happy that our daughter has found somebody that she wants to spend the rest of her life with."  
Ron put down the dish brush and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms in a childish gesture.  
"Fine," he muttered, and then followed Hermione back out to the living room.


	7. Girls and Boys Part I

Of course, after telling Ron, breaking the news to the rest of the family was cinch.

"About bloody time!" James exclaimed as he waved his wand around in random excited patterns that caused sparks to fly and catch onto the Persian rug at the Potter's place. Albus just smiled and clapped Scorpius on the back while Ginny yelled at James and fixed the scorch marks in the carpet with a wave of her wand. She turned to Rose, who so resembled her with her straight red hair and pale complexion, not to mention the fiery temper, and smiled. "I'm so glad for you, darling," she said, pulling Rose into an embrace that smelled of lavender and irises. "I assume my dear brother has had words with you?" she asked Scorpius before pulling him into a hug too. He seemed surprised, but not embarrassed, and more than a little pleased. Harry just eyed them with those smiling green eyes of his and nodded. And so on and so forth until they had broken the news to every single family member they had, extended or otherwise. It took a while.

"My goodness, that was the longest day I've been through in my life," Rose complained as Scorpius apparated both of them straight into the living room of her tiny flat. She went around lighting the lamps manually and Scorpius just watched her with an amused expression.  
"Only the longest day of your life? Not the best day? Not even close?" He arranged his face into an expression of mock sadness and Rose rolled her eyes.  
"Oh, all right, maybe the second best day," she conceded, settling down on his lap. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer and she snuggled into his neck.  
"Only the second best day?" he breathed into her hair, and she shivered and giggled.  
"Yep. Only second best."

Scorpius pulled back and looked at her.  
"What was your best day, then?" he demanded, incensed, and she laughed.  
"Oh put your hair back on, I'm saving my best day," she said and put a hand up to ruffle his flawless hair. He ducked.  
"For what?" he asked, still evading her hand.  
"For our wedding day, stupid," she sighed, and he sheepishly allowed her to mess up his perfect hair.  
"Oh," he said, "that day."  
"Yes," she smiled, "that day."  
He kissed her then and they both forgot that when the Weasley-Potter-Lupin-and-soon-to-be-Malfoy clan planned weddings, they really _planned_them.

"Oh no no no, Rose Weasley, you are not wearing that dress. I absolutely forbid it. It covers everything up, for merlin's sake!"  
"Now Roxanne, we don't want our Rosie looking like a scarlet woman on her own wedding day, the dress's perfectly lovely-"  
"But grandma, it's got long sleeves!" Roxanne practically wailed as the Weasley matriarch looked over the dress with an approving eye. Victoire and Dom clicked their tongues and Lily, who had cut her trip around the world short just to get here to help, hastened to agree with Rox.  
"I agree Grandma, it's too hot to be wearing that on a summer's day. What about this one though?" she pulled another absolutely beautiful white silk gown out from the racks and held it up. Rose almost wilted into the ground. Merlin, how did these people do it? They had a seemingly never ending, unlimited supply of white silk gowns and somehow each was more gorgeous than the last. Practically every female from her extended family was there, from Grandma Weasley to Narcissa and Astoria Malfoy to Victoire Lupin. And they ALL had to contribute at least one dress for her to put on and they ALL had an opinion on EVERY dress. The more conflicting the better. It wasn't that Rose wasn't a girly girl, it was just, well, the dress picking had been going on for six hours now already. She would much rather be with Scorpius at her little flat, just talking.  
She sighed as the women found yet another dress for her to put on.

"What was that you said about my son, Weaselbee?"  
"What was that you called me, Ferret?"  
Scorpius sighed. Whose bloody brilliant idea was it to have all the males together to plan their upcoming wedding like one big, happy family? Oh right. It was his bloody brilliant idea. Too bad he hadn't factored in all the females going off to get started immediately on choosing a dress for Rose. Without the calming influence of their wives at hand, the situation was deteriorating quickly. At least they hadn't drawn their wands. Yet.  
"I don't even know why you need to be here!" Ron said, drawing his wand.  
"Maybe because my son is getting married, you dolt!" said Draco, also unsheathing his wand. Ah. There went the pretense of civility. Scorpius winced and stepped in to take control of the situation.  
"Dad, Ron, sir, I don't even see why you're fighting over my wedding! Over who will be the pageboy, no less! Shouldn't I get to choose since I'm the one getting married?" he said, ignoring Draco trying to get a clear aim around him.  
"Call me Mr. Weasley," Ron snarled. Scorpius looked over to the other males for help but they were too busy suppressing laughter. Scorpius rolled his eyes and set to work calming the two down. You'd think the others would get over it by the seventeenth time this has happened but no, they seemed to find it funnier every time. He sighed and wished he was with Rose. The wedding was turning out to be a lot more trouble than it was worth. How he was going to survive the next four months, he didn't know.


	8. Girls and Boys Part II

**So, I don't think I've been doing disclaimers for this story, BUT that doesn't mean I'm J.K or anything. If I was J.K, I wouldn't be sitting here dreaming of owning Aragorn's sword, I'd have it mounted on my wall right now. **

**So yeah, I'm not J.K Rowling. Neither are sny of the other writers of this story.**

**This is my chapter! Yay! I haven't written a chapter since, like, the first one? So here you actually get to see something that's written by me.**

'**WHAT?' I hear you say 'Snatch didn't write the last chapters?' go back and read the first chapter. NOW. That explains things for you. **

She had found it. The perfect dress.

Rose stuck her head around the curtain to talk to the women assembled in the shop.

'I think this is the one,' she breathed, stepping out.

There were gasps from the different family members.

'Oh Rose, it's gorgeous!' Victoire gushed.

'Just the right length!' said Grandma Weasley approvingly

'Oh, grandma,' Roxanne sighed. She turned to Rose. 'But I like it, no, wait, I LOVE it. You look like an angel.'

Rose blushed.

'It's really lovely, Rose,' Astoria told her. 'I can't wait to see Scorpius's face when he sees you on the wedding day.'

Rose was ecstatic that Astoria approved of the dress. She had always gotten on very well with Scorpius's mother, and since her mother currently wasn't here with her, Astoria was the first person she was going to seek approval from.

The shop door opened, sending a blast of cold air into the shop, and Hermione walked in carrying two large trays of coffee. She stopped dead when she saw Rose.

'Oh Rose, that one is perfect!'

Over coffee the women discussed the wedding, and Rose found herself standing next to Lily.

'Aren't you glad you found a dress so quickly?' Rose nearly choked on her latte.

'Quickly! That took forever! Nearly four weeks! I never thought I'd see the end! Rows and rows of white dre...' Rose stopped when she saw that Lily was laughing.

**Meanwhile...**

'I'm sorry, I was under the impression this was MY wedding. So could you both SHUT UP and stop behaving like eleven year olds!'

Silence.

Well, that got them quiet, thought Scorpius grimly.

His father and all the male members of his soon to be family were gathered in the living room of the Weasley's house, in a second attempt to do some organisation for the wedding. Scorpius had left it for several weeks, the hope that in that time Ron and Draco might have sorted out their differences. He had been sorely mistaken.

If the situation hadn't been so stressful, Scorpius would have found it highly funny. Ron was at one end of the room, Draco at the other, and the rest of the family was scattered in between. Albus, ever the peace maker, was standing next to Draco, in an attempt to diffuse the rising tension.  
Harry, who had been involved in the planning of several weddings, including his own, took charge. Scorpius was very grateful. The situation was turning into a ticking time bomb.

Thankfully, Harry appeared to have realised that the best way to stop the increasing hostility was to separate Ron and Draco altogether. He assigned the booking of chairs and tents to Draco and Albus (who got on well with everybody) and sent them off on their way. James and Bill were put in charge of food.

That only left about a bazillion people. Christmas's were going to be a nightmare, Scorpius thought.  
The job of finding caterers, entertainers, and a minister took a large number of people. By the time that had been sorted, there were only four people left in the room with Scorpius: Ron, Harry, Teddy, and the only 'woman' of the group, Teddy's four year old daughter Amelie.

'There's not really much left to do,' Scorpius told them. 'Rose and I decided we'd do all the colour scheme stuff together.'

'I know we're I'm going,' Harry replied. 'And you too,' he said, pointing at Ron.

Scorpius and Ron stared at him quizzically.

'For a drink. And a talk.'

Ron and Harry had been gone barely five minutes when the women arrived.

'Hello, where's everybody else?' Victoire asked Teddy, kissing him on the cheek and picking up Amelie to give her a hug.

'Harry managed to give them all jobs, and then he and Ron went for a drink and a "talk"'

Astoria and Hermione looked at each other and rolled their eyes. 'We wonder what _that _was about.'

'Long day?' Rose asked Scorpius.

'Don't even ask...'


	9. Let us Talk

"So you managed to find a dress?" Scorpius asked Rose just as soon as they had both apparated back into Rose's little flat. Rose, as usual, went around lighting the lamps manually; it was a comfort thing. She cast Scorpius a horrified look.

"Don't you dare even _mention_ the dress, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, you have _no idea_ just what kind of hell I had to go through for six—mmmf." Scorpius stopped her tirade with a gentle kiss, and Rose melted into him, his familiar scent like a homecoming after an obscenely long day.

"I've missed you," he whispered against her forehead when they had broken apart.

Rose laughed. "What are you talking about? You saw me this morning!"

"Precisely," he murmured, his lips now at her neck. "Much too long ago."

"Mmm," Rose said, as his lips continued to caress her skin, "I might agree with you, at that."

Scorpius shot her a rakish grin. "You always do in the end, love," he said. Rose tried to hit him around the head with the nearest dictionary-sized book and he ducked easily, laughing. He planted another kiss near Rose's temple.

"Calm down, Rose. You know _you're_ the one that's got me wrapped around _your_ finger."

"I should hope so," Rose grumbled, as she let him kiss her skin again. His fingers tickled her collarbone and Rose could feel his lips quirking up into a smile on her cheeks.

"So," he murmured silkily against her ear, "tell me about that dress again?"

Rose snapped and lunged for her encyclopaedia. "SCORPIUS MALFOY!"

"Hey, Ab," Harry greeted his old friend easily as he passed through the Hog's Head (which was a much more reputable bar these days) with Ron. Aberforth Dumbledore, now bent almost double with a long white beard thick enough to rival his brother's, nodded back shortly. He was wizened and ancient now, sitting in a rocking chair, but his gruff, scratchy voice was still as strong as ever and his piercing blue eyes had not yet lost their spark and colour. He watched over everything from his almost-throne in the corner, making sure everything in the Hog's Head was run as smoothly as it had been in his day (not that you could really describe the working of the bar as 'smooth' in his time).

"Potter, Weasley," he called in his brusque tone, although there was an undeniable warm undertone there that he reserved only for his long friends. "Be wanting a booth, then? I know a table would be much too public, even after all these years."

Harry nodded gratefully. "That would be good, thanks, Ab, Ron and I—" he shot Ron a dark look "—need to be having a little chat."

Aberforth nodded. "Millie! A booth for these two, please! And be quick about it, and stop staring, girl!" Harry stifled an embarrassed smile as the young girl called on goggled at them shamelessly through wide eyes. Even after all these years, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were still the subject of unabashed staring.

"So," Harry started as soon as they stepped into their booth. "Your daughter is getting married very soon, Ron, and—"

"To the Malfoy kid! _To the Malfoy kid!_ Harry, Malfoy made our lives hell—or tried to make our lives hell—for the seven years at Hogwarts! Malfoy was a bloody Death Eater, or have you forgotten that?"

"I haven't forgotten _anything,_ Ron, and neither have you!" Harry said angrily. "I remember that Malfoy was a Death Eater, and that he was a bigoted bully, but I also remember that he refused to give us up at Malfoy Manor and that he refused to kill Dumbledore on command! And you're missing the big point here, Ron—Malfoy was. _Malfoy_ was the Death Eater and the stupid bully, not his son. Not Scorpius Malfoy. Not the man your daughter loves! Yes, she loves him, Ron, and don't you dare try to tell me otherwise because you know it too," Harry continued on ruthlessly, "You know Rose has got far too much of Hermione in her to ever be stupid enough to fall for a cruel person. If Rose loves him, then it's with good reason. After all, Hermione made the right choice. You should trust her—and _your_—daughter to do the same."

Ron looked spitting furious for a second, his ears red and his mouth opening and closing like he wanted to say something, but in the end he closed his mouth and slumped down in his seat. "You're right, Harry," he muttered against the mahogany tabletop. "I'm a git."

"No, you're not," Harry said forcefully. "You're just a little stubborn sometimes. We all are. And believe me, I don't like the fact that we're now in-laws with Malfoy any more than you do. But this is Rose's decision and no-one else's. We should respect that."

"Yes, we should," Ron muttered morosely. "I still don't like it, Harry."

Harry sat down and made a face. "Neither do I, really," he admitted, and both of them laughed. The tension between them was diffused in a second. "Ah, look! The Firewhiskey's here. What do you say we down a few cups to forget the fact that we're going to be legally related to Malfoy in just a few months?"

"Hear, hear," Ron said fervently, and reached for the bottle.

. . .

"—and then he shot off in the complete opposite direction, completely confused by Hermione's little Confundus charm!"

The little room shook with the laughter of so many grown adults, and Hermione sat in the middle of it all, blushing a fiery shade of red.

"Ginny Potter!" she hissed, admonishing her best friend who was currently laughing herself silly next to an equally hysterical Astoria. "That was supposed to be a _secret!_"

"Oh, believe me, Granger, it was _no secret at all_ that you liked Weasel-King by the end of that year," Draco assured her, his usual composure gone thanks to the loosening effects of Madam Rosmerta's finest oak-matured mead. He hiccupped. "No offence to any other Weasley congregated here, of course. My antagonism is directed solely towards _that_ lady's ginger-haired arse of a husband." He pointed to Hermione and hiccupped again, and the little room exploded with laughter once more.

"None taken," Bill assured him, reaching for another bottle, while Fleur restrained him with a scarily disapproving look in her eye. "Sitting in a house of Weasleys as you are now, I think it's safe to assume you won't seriously insult any of us unless you had a death wish."

Everyone laughed again and despite it all, Hermione cracked a smile. Bill, inebriated as he was, nevertheless spoke the truth: it was the snakes that were in the weasel den at the moment. Draco and Astoria had apparated over to the Burrow after the wedding preparations had finished for the day, to celebrate their becoming a family soon. Without the prickly atmosphere that Draco and Ron constructed every time they were in a room together, the little gathering had soon progressed from light, polite conversation over dinner to a boisterous party over bottles of mead, Firewhiskey and Butterbeer. Hermione's heart swelled to see those former enemies sitting in a room together, sharing jokes over bottles of drinks, even if the jokes were at her expense. It made her intensely proud to think that it was her daughter that had brought about this change and thought that, for an outcome like this, the occasional joke at her expense might be a small price to pay.

By now, Ginny, gasping with laughter, had recovered herself enough to start another anecdote. "Oh, have I told you guys about the time when Hermione made Polyjuice Potion back in second year?"

Everyone looked around at her and, on cue, Hermione blushed again. "Polyjuice Potion?" Astoria said, surprised. "In second year? That's impressive, Hermione."

"No wonder I could never beat her," Draco grumbled into his necktie. "Father was not very pleased about that."

Hermione cleared her throat. "Well, yes, Polyjuice Potion. It wasn't all that difficult in retrospect. It was nothing, really."

Ginny flapped her hand impatiently. "Yes, well, very impressive. Anyway, the funny thing is, she made the Polyjuice Potion and you know how they require a hair from the person you want to turn into? You see, they wanted to turn into someone from Slytherin to find out about who was opening the Chamber of Secrets, and she—"

Uh-oh. Hermione suddenly remembered where this was going. Maybe jokes at her expense weren't so okay after all. "Ginny Potter, I swear if you say another word—"

"—thought she had a hair from Millicent Bulstrode, but it was actually from her cat!"

Roars of laughter.

"_GINNY POTTER!"_


End file.
